|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
98.210.17.61
I have had a tough time with much of Bruckner over the years - while I found the 4th, 7th and 8th symphonies immediately accessible, the others have proven to be a very tough nut to crack. Sometimes I think that Bruckner may be more interpreter dependent than other composers....the 3rd eluded me for years (my intro was the Haitink recording, and I own a few others as well) and it was not until I recently heard the Szell that the symphony made any sense to me.
I think there is the chance that the 5th will be a lost cause for me - it seems to be Bruckner in his most academic and professorial - I have heard a number of performances, recorded and live, and it just doesn't get under my skin.
Same for the 9th - again I have heard a number of recordings, and the adjective I would always use for this symphony is "brutal".....but there might be hope with this in a 4 movement version -the completed 4th
movement actually seems to tie it together.
A few months ago I acquired a set of the Bruckner 4-9 symphonies in an EMI box, conducted by Klemperer, and I have been working my way through it. The 4th symphony IMO is exceptional (Bruckner9 doesn't agree) and Klemperer shows considerable drive in this, a property with which he is not always associated. His 7th had me until the last movement, where it falls apart. His 6th is superb, and I would call it one of the greatest performances of Bruckner that I've heard. The sound is excellent, at least on the EMI pressing I have, the New Philharmonia plays well, and again, Klemperer shows great momentum, and the 6th comes off as the great symphony it probably is. I also recently heard the Steinberg/BSO on RCA, which isn't bad, but doesn't compare to this.
Maybe Klemps will have me eating my words on the 5th!
Follow Ups:
For vinyl issue of the sixth, if they wanted it to fit in one record, the 2nd movement has to be cut into 2 parts. Not the Eterna /Bongartz, they put each movement into a single side and made a 2 discs album for this work. That was something for the 1964 GDR.
Sound is very good to excellent, only the high strings has a tendency toward the lean side. Wide soundstage, clear instrument tone, excellent dynamics.
For the performance, Bongartz has a clear mind of what to do and when to do it. The whole work is much better structured than it was under Klemperer, ending is more secure and making sense. However, he did not render the ethereal beauty that Klempere had done to the 2nd movement, his is more earthly bound, more humane inside, IMHO.
The Leipzig musicians played with precision and sincerity. The orchestra sound is very different from the soft-suspension, comfy-drive type of sound under the later Kurt Masur. For an analogy, maybe the early Maazel in DG tulips apply.
comes across to me as surprisingly "sensual" for Bruckner. Beautiful string writing.
Dare I say the last mov't of the 7th may very well indeed fall apart on it's own.
I recommend trying to find an EMI pressing for this, instead of a domestic Angel. I have been really impressed by the sound on these EMI LPs (pressed in Germany, I believe). Klemperer extracts a far more beautiful sound from the orchestra than I expected. I think the Angel pressings do not present Klemperer's art in the best fashion.
Edits: 01/27/15
Agreed on the 4th, 7th, and 8th. Which performance do you like best?
The 3rd and 6th have eluded me too, but now I have to check out Szell & Klemperer.
I am still looking for favorite LP versions, but I also really like Klemperer's 4th. Haven't heard his 8th yet. I always liked Karajan's CD with the VPO of the 8th, and Bruckner9, who is much more of a Bruckner maven than I, considers the Giulini 8th with the VPO (available on digital LP) to be a desert island recording for him. I have it - it is slow as you can expect, but nuanced. I need to live with it more. I also have just acquired the Szell 8th - a report on that later, along with Klemperer.
No LP recommendation at this time for the 7th. There is a thread below on this subject.
if you think Giulini's Bruckner 8th is slow (btw....it's not), you'll think Klemps' is CRAWLING.
i have over 60 different Bruckner 8th recordings. some are slightly swifter than Giulini's; most are relatively similar, and several are slower. the Klemperer is an absolute disaster.
OK, just checked out relative timings of the Nowak edition of the 8th at www.abruckner.com. Giulini clocks in 87 minutes. Here are some others:
Horenstein 76
Harnoncourt 82
Janowski 79
Jochum (DG) 74
KLEMPERER 84
Mehta 78
Szell 82
The only slower performance by a major conductor that I could find in a cursory scan was Celibidache at a whopping 99 minutes!
So, yes, Giulini is slow. This kind of timing is typical of his later work, as you know - he went from moderate tempos as a younger conductor to much slower ones as he aged.
But I didn't say it was bad.....I just said it was slow....and it is.
:-)
I agree about the Klemperer 6th, it is a great performance and makes more sense than most of a curious work. The 5th is a tough nut to crack. Don't give up. Try Karajan.
Dave
Karajan, huh? Thanks, I'll look into that. I have his late CD's with the VPO of the 7th and 8th. I've never heard any of his BPO Bruckner.
rough-hewn, weighty yet incredibly transparent, (at least when the DGG engineers haven't screwed up the sound), and played by all dept's as if it were the most important music ever written.
Faint praise perhaps, but Karajan's 7th blew away Haitink's.
How much of Karajan's BPO Bruckner have you heard - I have heard none. I am contemplating the acquisition of the complete set.
i've got every bruckner recording he ever did....including a sept 29, 1944 bruckner 8th in which the finale is in true STEREO, originally recorded by the german radio corp.
Post a Followup:
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: